ESCOM to install LED bulbs to reduce blackouts

The Electricity Supply Corporation of Malawi (ESCOM) has embarked on a project installing Light Emitting Diode (LED) bulbs to reduce the levels of evening load shedding and also to increase savings on customers’ electricity bills.

ESCOM is expected to kick start the project from December 12, 2016 where the bulbs will be installed at some identified premises of its customers.

According to a statement, ESCOM has procured an initial 1.2 million LED bulbs most of which will be distributed for free to customers in low income high density urban areas in districts and cities.

The free distributed bulbs will be issued in exchange with the ordinary incandescent bulbs that were recorded during a door to door data collection exercise that was carried out by ESCOM recently.

“The remainder will be sold through ESCOM Customer Care Centers and private retail shops at a subsidized price,” reads the statement in part.

ESCOM is expected to save about 30 Mega Watts during evening peak hours upon full installation of the LED bulbs. This will in turn result in a significant reduction in evening load shedding.

According to ESCOM, its employees engaged in the exercise will be identified by ESCOM branded uniforms and that customers will be informed of the dates of the visitations through announcements to be made through short message services (sms), public address system, radio, and newspapers advertisements.

Poor electricity supply has become one of the major concerns across the country and ESCOM has been coming up with a number of initiatives to reduce the problem.

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